Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the Age Strong Commission announced the recipients of its Expanding Engagement grant, a city grant program designed to provide funding to nonprofit community organizations to create new or expand current programs inviting older adults to engage more for better physical and mental health. The City is awarding $546,403 in funding to 37 nonprofit community organizations across Boston neighborhoods.

Read the full announcement here.

Boston By Foot will use its award to engage Boston’s older adults in its programs as active collaborators. "We value the knowledge and contributions of Boston’s older adults, and feel connecting with them through our proposed Shared History program will help us share a more complete history of our city," said BBF Executive Director Samantha Nelson.

BBF will set out to develop relationships with a set of Boston seniors from neighborhoods in which it does not have expertise. This will include a series of sharing sessions with small groups of seniors who are interested in connecting with others and sharing their stories. BBF volunteers will use Oral History methods to encourage conversation and reflection as they engage the seniors in walking conversations. These multi-purpose sessions will encourage seniors to gather with others in a social setting designed to build relationships and connections to people and place, spark reflection and memory, and honor seniors’ lived experience as part of the wider story of Boston’s history.